Scotland must be 'patient' against Gibraltar, says Gordon Strachan
Saturday 28 March 2015 15:17, UK
Gordon Strachan will tell his Scotland players not to take a gung-ho approach when they face Gibraltar in Sunday's European Qualifier at Hampden Park.
Scotland are expected to easily beat the Group D minnows in Glasgow, but Strachan has instructed his squad to be patient as they attempt to fire in the goals against the part-timers.
The Scotland manager said: "We don't want to be panicking and rush into things. We will look forward and try to play forward at every occasion but that can't happen all the time.
"There are areas where we will have space to go and attack, there are areas where it might be harder. We will have to be patient to get the areas where we think we can work at being successful."
He also urged the home fans to understand why patience may be a virtue at the national stadium, adding: "Fans come along to lose their inhibitions, shout and scream. They want to see goals.
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"If the weather was scorching hot, they would maybe be more patient but I don't think it's going to be like that.
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“I think the fans will be wanting something to warm them up right away.
"But we can't be sucked into trying to score a goal with the first touch of the ball. We have done a lot of work and you might at times think we are not going anywhere but we have to be patient and try to find the weaknesses."
Gibraltar, who are bottom of Group D without a point from four games, select their team from a population of around just 30,000. They are yet to score a goal and have conceded 21.
Scotland are third in the table with seven points from four games and in contention to qualify for next summer’s finals in France, but Strachan is wary of Gibraltar's improvement since starting their campaign.
He said: "In the first couple of games of the championship, the excitement was so great, but you could see in the Germany game there was a bit of reality about it. The world champions only scored four goals.
"Four goals is definitely enough to win a game of football, that's for sure, but that's the improvement we have seen from the first couple of games. You get over that initial excitement of just being there and then you want to be hard to beat, and I think that's the stage Gibraltar will be at."
Watch Scotland v Gibraltar live on Sky Sports 1 at 5pm on Saturday.
